The present invention relates to portable communications terminals of the type capable of supplying a television display and two-way audio communication capability to a user.
A terminal which has previously been proposed by Honeywell, and which is designated "VIMAD", includes a helmet-like headset and an electronics package worn on the user's waist. The headset carries a small television display tube projecting onto an eyepiece to permit one eye of the user to view the television display. The electronics package contains a two-way radio, a miniature television receiver and batteries. The radio is connected to a microphone and earphone mounted in the headset, while the television receiver supplies video information to the display tube. This terminal was described in the periodical Aviation Week & Space Technology, Oct. 11, 1982.
There have also been proposals for eye motion recorders which permit recording of the motion of a subject's eyes relative to the scene being viewed. One such recorder, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,457, is in the form of a head-mounted unit including a first television camera aimed at the scene being viewed by the wearer, an optical system directing a spot of light onto the cornea of one eye of the user, and a second television camera associated with the optical system to record the light spot reflected from the cornea. The position of the reflected spot on the field of view of the second camera corresponds to the direction in which the user is looking. The images produced by the two cameras can be superimposed on one another.